Brick-press.



H. .I. FLOOD.

smcx PRESS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 23, I91].

[92 yewtvmflurry Jl'ZomZ Paton ted June 4, 1918.

4 SHEETS-9HEET I.

H. J. FLOOD.

BRICK PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28. I917.

Patented June 4, 1918.

4 SHEETS- SHEET 2.

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1 til BRICK PRESS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28, m 7.

Patented J une 4, 1918.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

i a l I I l I r N I I I IMVQMWW;

H. J. FLOOD.

BRICK PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED EEPT. 28. 1917- 1 ,26,226. Patented June 4, 1918.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4- /'f""\m k HARRY J. FLOOD, or CHICAGO, IL mois.

To all 'w/imn it mag concern." 1 1 Be it known thatI, HARR J. FLoop, a citizen of the United States, residinga-tChicage, in the county; of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new i and useful Improvement in Brick-Presses, of

whichthe followingisa specification 1 My invention relates to machines for compressing material into form, especially brick presses, The inventionis especially applicable to presses of the type wherein there are verticallymoving plungers cooperating with each other inmolds, the material being fed into themold by acharger, which alSo dechines are practically if not entirely inopera tive without my invention unless the function of the invention be performed by hand.

To illustrate, abrick ress of the type mentioned may by provi ing to andbottom plunger plates of the roper obliquity be made without the aid 0 any special attachment or modification tooperate on clay having the usual amount ofplasticity. The clay fiowsfiso to s eakirom one part of the mold to the other and accommodates itself tothe difi'erences in the thickness at difi'er-- ent parts of the mold. But there are other materials from which it is desirable to-produce bricks, which havelittle, if any, of. the

ability to thusflow and accommodate themselves in the mold. For, example, magnesite is used for the productionof fire brick. This substance is granular and gritty, and heretofore the only way that arch or wedge brick could be made from it was by stoppin the machine each time after the mold had een filled and removing. by. handsome of the material from the point where the brick was to be thinner. .Thecharger filled the molds full,that is, flush with the top, andsonie of the magnesite had to be taken out by hand at the thinner portions. of the brick before the plungers could be safely permitted to make the compression. This method was not only slow, bet was uncertain in its re Specification of Letters Patent.

' f BRioK-rmess.

{Patented Jane 4, leis}.

Application filed September 28, 1917. -Seria1No. 193,634.

sults, for the results depended each time upon the skill and judgment of the operator n removing the surplus material. The ob- ]ectofmy invention is to provide means for automatically removing the surplus material. In carrying outmy invention in the form illustrated, I provide means which dips into the mold on each return stroke of the charger andremoves from it, at the proper polnt and in the proper amount, the surplus material. i i i I accomplish my objeotby the mechanism illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a side elevationchiefly in vertical' section, showing those parts of the press with which my invention isparticularly concerned. i p Fig.2 is a perspective view eta wedge brick, the product produced by the particular mechanism shown in Fig. 1. It will be noted that this brick is of constant widthbut is thinner at one end than at the other.

.3 is airont elevatioihpartly in section, of the parts shown in Fig. l. Fig.4 is a planview of the mold table, charger, and associatedparts includingthe mechanism embodying my invention in the form shownin Figs. 1 and 3.

Figs. 5 to 7 inclusive show the machine equlpped to make arch brick, a sample of which is shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 5 is a side elevation partly in section, of the mold table and associatedparts equipped with mechanism embodying my invention.

Fig. 6 is a front elevation, partly in sec tion,-of the parts shown in Fig. 5. This figure shows that for arch brick the greatest amount of material is removed from theside of the mold instead offrom the end as in makingwedge brick. I i i Fig. 7 is a sectional view, similar to Fig. 5, showlng the lower plunger ralsed and the width but thicker at one edge than at the other.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

I will first describe the mechanism shown in Figs. 1 to 49.

The scraper is shown As brick presses of the typementioned are well known, the press in the present case need not be described in detail. It has a stationary mold table lsupported by the main frame 2 and having end liners 3 and side liners l. Fastened to the mold table is a back apron 5 and a front apron 6. The lower plungers 7 are supported on the lower crosshead 8 and furnished "at thetop with the plunger or die plates 9. The upper plungers 10 are supported on the upper crosshead 11 and provided with plunger or die plates 12. The crossheads move vertically under the action of well known mech anism and cause the plungers to compress the material in the mold. The lower plungers also assist in delivering the compressed material, for they eject it by raising it to the top of the mold, after which the forwardly moving charger 13 delivers it onto the front apron. The charger travels across over the top of the moldsunder the action of the connecting rods 14 and has an opening 15 at the front through which the mate scraping the surplus material away from the molds so: as to leave the molds full to a point level with their tops. 1

Briefly, the operation of the parts thus far described may be stated as follows: suming the lower plungers to be at the bottom of the mold and the upper plungers raised, as shown in Fig. 3, the charger moves forward its opening 15 containing a supply of material which is pushed forward by the charger and drops into the mold as the charger advances. The molds will be more than filled, and as the 'chargertravels on its return journey,the front wall 19removes all material lying above the top of the molds, scraping said material backward onto the mold table and back. apron' and leaving the molds full to a point flush with the top. The plungers then cooperate to compress the material, and after the material has been comshown, be inclined to the horizontal.

pressed, the upper plungers rise clear of the molds and the lower plungers rise for the purpose of elevating the compressed material to the level of the mold table so that it may be removed from the machine.

To produce arch brick and wedge brick, the plunger plates must, of course, be beveled; that is to say, their acting surfaces must, in a type of machine like the one The inclination may be in a direction transverse to the machine, as shown in Fig. 6 to pro- .machine by which it becomes possible to produce either arch or Wedge brick out of magnesite and similar material which is gritty and has a very low coefficient of fluidity. Reference willfirstlje had to F igs. 1 to 4 inclusive. Mounted crosswise in the charger is a shaft 22 which acts as a pivot for side arms 23. While the construction may be varied, I have in the present instance shownthe pivo't shaft as journaled in bushings 24 mounted in the charger and having" collars 25 whichact as spacers to keep t'heside arms at the roper "distance from the sides "of the charger, as best shown in Fig. l. These side arms are held in place by keys '26 passing through the slotted endsof the 's'h'aft. A crossbar 28is rigidly fastened the heater the side arms 23' at aslight distance in front or the front end of the charger. This crossbar is rigidly fastened, being, in the design illustrated, rabbeted into the ends of the arms. Sjaid crossbar is preferably removable, being fastened by nuts 30 screwing onto studs 31 95 projecting from the ends of the crossbar and passing through the side arms. Fastened to the crossbar is a setof plates 32, one plate for each mold. These plates are the full width of the mold for removing d therefrom a portion of the contents as the charger moves on its return journey. As intimated, the functicnbf the plat is to excavate from the mold cavity material in such manner that when the plunge'rs pro 5 duce the ecm ressim he density of the compressed inatel' 'ial will be substantially uniform notwithstanding the fact that the material is substantially manual and the plunger plates approach each other more 6 closely at one part of the mold than at an-' other. The side arms 23, which cause the excavator or scraper iats 32 to go through the proper motions, are operat'ed nne'chanisin,- the shape of which is clearly 1 shown in Figul. In the design illustrated, the cams are; in two parts 35 use 36. l These areplates, the'lower edges of which have cam surfaces for actlngupon the antiPfriction roller 37 mounted" upon. one of the side 120 arms 28. Of course, thesecams and their cooperating roller could be reproduced on the opposite side of the machine, but in the present case they are shown on one side only and it has been found in practice that 125 this usually is sufficient.

The cam plates 35 and 36 are bolted to a plate 38, fastened by brackets 39 to as main frame 2 The design of these partsimay, however,- be considerably varied'wi houtd 13(1 parting from the spirit of the invention. As the charger travels back and forth, the roller 37, being acted upon by the cam plates, causes the side arms to oscillate about the pivot shaft 22 and thereby produce a vertical movement in the scraper plates 32. The parts are so designed that in traveling rearward, the plate 32 will drop sharply into the mold at the front end and gradually rise as they travel backward, thus removing or excavating a greater amount of material from the front of the mold where the plunger plates approach each other more closely thanat the back where they do not come so closely together. When the plates have finished their backward journey,they leave an inclined surface of material, the surface at the back of the mold being flush with the top of the mold as graphically suggested in Fig. 1. When the plates aretraveling forward they will retrace the path traversed in moving backward, but at this time the mold will be empty. The forward end of the side arms 23, and consequently the excavator plates are held down to their work by a spring 40 which, in the form shown, is a helical compression spring, the upper end of which abuts a bracket 41 fastened to the side of the charger and the other end abuts a bracket 42 fastened to one of the side arms.

Referring now to Figs. 5 to 8, inclusive, I have shown a form for making arch brick. In this case the scraper or excavator plates 44 remove more material from one side of the mold than the other instead of operating as the previously described form does in removing more material from the front of the mold than from the back. The mechanism, when adapted for arch brick construction, is the same as before, except that cams of different configuration are employed, and the scraper or excavator plates instead of being rigidly attached to the side arms 23, yield rearward at the bottom. The cams, which for convenience are formed in three pieces, 45, 46 and 47, are bolted to the plate 38, as before. They are so configurated, however, as to cause the scrapers in passing backward to dip sharply into the mold at the front and travel horizontally backward until they almost reach the back of the mold, whereupon they rise sharply to clear the back end mold-liner 3. Instead of the fixed cross bar 28, a rotatable cross bar 50 is substituted, as best shown in Fig. 6. This has trunnions 51 at the ends which are journaled in the side arms 23. Consequently, the plates are rotatably suspended.

They are permitted to swing rearward but prevented from swinging forward by arms 53 which are rigidly fastened to the squared ends of the trunnions and engage stop pins 54 projecting from the side of the arms 23. The purpose in thus permitting the scraper plates to swing rearward is illustrated in Fig. 7 where it will be seen that in order to bring the lowest portion of thecompressed material flush with the mold table for delivery, it is necessary to bring the highest part of the lower plunger plate 9 above the level of the mold table. This projecting portion of the plunger plates would interfere with the forward motion of the scraper plate were it not for the rotatable suspension described.

It will be clear that the machine may be readily converted for the making of one style of brick or the other. If ordinary brick are required the only thing necessary is to put in the proper plunger plates and remove the scraper plates. If wedge brick are required the plunger plates are changed and the fixed scraper plates put in. If arch brick are required the plunger plates are again changed, the swinging scraper plates supplied, and the appropriate cam plates aflixed.

As a result of my invention, an ordinary brick press may be made to operate automatically on substantially non-fluid materials such as magnesite without danger of straining any of the parts and without producing a brick having greater compression at one portion than at another. Of course, it will be understood that the terms arch brick and wedge brick are simply trade terms for bricks in which two surfaces are non-parallel and the terms are used in this specification merely to facilitate an under- 10" standing of the principle of the. invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. Organized mechanism having a mold, a charger for filling it and means on the charger for removing from within the mold a portion of the material deposited in it by the charger.

2. In mechanism of the class described, a mold, a reciprocating mold charger, and means on the charger descending into the mold for removing part of its contents.

3. A machine for compressing material into form having a mold; plungers for compressing the material in the mold, a charger passing over the mold for filling it, and a scraper dipping into the mold for removing from the mold cavity a portion of the uncompressed material deposited in it by the charger.

4. A brick press having a mold open at the top, plungers for compressing the mate rial in the mold, a reciprocating charger traveling over the top of the mold and means reciprocating with the charger and moving vertically to remove from the mold cavity a portion of the contents thereof.

5. A brick press having a mold, means for compressing the material in the mold, a reciprocating charger traveling over the top of the mold, arms pivoted on the charger, a scraper for removing from the mold a portion of the material deposited therein by the charger, said scraper being carried by the arms, and means for oscillating the arms about their pivots for operating the scraper.

side arms, cam mechanism partly on the mainframe and partly on the side arms for oscillating said bars about their pivots, and springs acting iipon the side arms for yieldingly holding them and the excavator plate down totheir Work. Y

9. A brick press having an open top mold,

6. A brick press having a mold open at means for compressing the material in the the top, plungers for compressingthe material in the mold, a charger traveling horizontally back and forth over the mold, a main frame supportingth'e mold, arms on the charger movable relatively thereto, a plate carried by the charger for excavating a portion ofthe material from the mold, and cam mechanism partly on the main frame and partly on the arms for operating said bars and plate. 7. A brick press having a mold open at the top, means for compressingthe material in the mold, a charger reciprocating horizontally over the mold, a main frame supporting the mold, arms pivoted to the charger, an excavating plate carried by the charger, and cams on themain frame acting upon said arms for operating them and the excavator plate as the charger reciprocates.

8. A brick press having a mold, plungers for compressing the material in the mold, a main frame supporting the mold, a reciprocating charger, side arms pivoted to the charger, an excavator plate carried by the Copies of this patent may be obtainedvfor ,mold, amain frame supporting the mold, a charger reciprocating over the mold, side armspivoted to the charger, an excavator platecarried by the side arms, anti-friction rollers on the side arms, and cams on the main frame cooperating Withsaid rollers for operating the side arms and excavator plate.

10. A brick press having an open top .mold, means for compressing the material inthemold, a charger traveling across the mold,side arms mounted on the charger and movablerelatively thereto, means for moving the side arms relatively to the charger, and a scraper carried bythe side arms for excavating a portion of the material from the mold, said scraper being yieldable in one direction and ,non-yieldable in the other whereby it is rendered non-active When traveling in one direction across the mold and active "When traveling inthe other direction across the mold.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my'na'me.

a .I-IARRY J. .FLOOD.

five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washi1 igton, D. G. 

